NBA Basketball
2019-03-28 - Sacramento Kings at New Orleans Pelicans
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Thursday 28th March 2019 - Tip Off 8pm
British Time: 12am
Preview
It is going to be something close to a miracle for the Sacramento Kings (37-37) to end their long wait to return to the Play Offs, but for now they are still alive in the Western Conference. There are 5.5 games between the Kings and the Number 8 Seeded San Antonio Spurs with games remaining down to single digits and the main ambition for Sacramento has to be finishing the season with a winning record.
They need to win five of their last eight games to do that and it will underline the progress being made by the Kings who have a young, talented roster that looks like it will be thriving in the years ahead. After a big leap in the 2018/19 season, Sacramento fans will be very excited about the new season later this year and the winning record in the standings can add to the belief that is also within a confident team.
Sacramento can get back above 0.500 if they can back up their win over the Dallas Mavericks when they make the journey to take on a short-handed New Orleans Pelicans (31-45) who can't wait for the season to end. The Anthony Davis saga looks set to get going again as soon as the season comes to a close for a team that reached the Western Conference Semi Finals last season, but have not looked good enough to compete for a top eight finish this time around.
Anthony Davis is set to miss out again and a number of other starters are out with injuries which means young talent are getting an opportunity to show what they have. The problem with young players is they are learning on the job and the Pelicans have lost nine of their last ten games and eight of those losses have been by double digits including one a couple of nights ago to the lowly Atlanta Hawks.
In recent games the Kings have been efficient from the field and it does feel like it is going to be a tough task for New Orleans to slow them down. I do think the Pelicans will have their own successes from the field, but Sacramento look like a team who can dominate the boards and make enough three pointers to pull away by the end of the Fourth Quarter.
If you wanted to know how far New Orleans have fallen over the course of the season you can see it by the fact they were the favourites to beat Sacramento in both regular season games played before the turn of the calendar year. In fact New Orleans were a double digit favourite when blowing out the Kings here, but the Kings have won three of the last five overall and that was when they were considered the weaker team.
Now they come in as the superior team and Sacramento are 19-8 against the spread in their last twenty-seven games against a team with a losing record. New Orleans have some ugly trends all around which is not a surprise when you think they have lost eight of ten by double digits and I will look for the Kings to stay alive in the Western Conference Play Off race for a couple more days while also moving into a winning record thanks to a good, solid road win.
Prediction
Lay the points with the favourite.
The Pick :
New Orleans Pelicans 112-119 Sacramento Kings
